ultimatepopculturefandomcom-20200216-history
Mojo Nixon
| death_date = | origin = Danville, Virginia, United States | instrument = | genre = }} | occupation = | years_active = 1985–2004 | label = Enigma (1985–1991) Needletime (1997) Shanachie (1999) | associated_acts = Skid Roper Toadliquors Jello Biafra Pleasure Barons | website = | current_members = | past_members = }} Mojo Nixon (born Neill Kirby McMillan, Jr.; August 2, 1957) is an American psychobilly musician. He has officially retired from playing live and recording, though he does host several radio shows on Sirius Satellite Radio and has come out of retirement for one-time events, such as an event to support fellow musician Kinky Friedman's candidacy for Texas governor.New York TimesNew York TimesNew York TimesAV Club Early career Nixon was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He paired with Skid Roper in the early 1980s in San Diego. Roper mostly provided instrumental backup to Nixon's lyrics. Nixon and Roper released their first album in 1985 on Enigma Records, Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper. The song "Jesus at McDonald's" from that album was the duo's first noteworthy single. Nixon and Roper's third album, 1987's Bo-Day-Shus!!! featured the song "Elvis is Everywhere," a deification of Elvis Presley, which is probably his best known song (Nixon later declared his personal religious trinity was Presley, Foghorn Leghorn and Otis Campbell). Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper were also recorded in San Francisco during these early years by producer Sylvia Massy at CD Presents for the "Rat Music For Rat People" compilation album. Acting and cultural parodies Nixon made his acting debut as drummer James Van Eaton in the 1989 Jerry Lee Lewis bio-pic, Great Balls of Fire!''Mendoza, Bart. Mojo Nixon Not So Quiet on the Set San Diego Reader. 2009-01-28. Retrieved on 2010-09-05. The film starred Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder, the latter of whom appeared in Nixon's video for "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child."Los Angeles Times Throughout the late '80s, Nixon and Roper produced several satirical pieces lampooning contemporary celebrities, such as MTV VJ Martha Quinn, in "Stuffin' Martha's Muffin," and Rick Astley and Deborah Gibson, in the aforementioned "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant ..." Nixon appeared in several promotional spots for MTV during this period, but the network's decision not to air the video for "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant ..." prompted him to sever ties with the network. Meanwhile, Nixon and Roper also lampooned contemporary American culture and social issues in songs such as "I Hate Banks," "Burn Down the Malls," and "The Amazing Bigfoot Diet." Nixon and Roper parted ways late in 1989. The following year Nixon recorded a solo album on Enigma called ''Otis. On this album, Nixon continued his assault on pop culture, as in the song "Don Henley Must Die" -- which caused a fresh round of controversy, even to the point of Mojo's record company begging radio stations not to play it. (Henley himself was unfazed; on July 31, 1992 at The Hole in the Wall in Austin, Texas, the former Eagle jumped onstage and performed the song with Nixon, causing Mojo to praise Henley as having "balls as big as church bells.")https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2014-06-20/don-henley-must-die/ Later career Shortly after Otis was released, Enigma Records went bankrupt, which in turn left much of Nixon's early catalog in legal limbo. In the 1990s Nixon released a handful of albums on several labels with a backup band known as the Toadliquors. These later albums included songs such as "You Can't Kill Me," "Orenthal James (Was A Mighty Bad Man)," and the controversial "Bring Me the Head of David Geffen," which was ultimately released on a B-side collection due to pressure from album distributors. Also among his later work was "Tie My Pecker To My Leg," which featured lyrics about bestiality, incest, and coprophilia. The nineties also saw Nixon appear in a further five films including Super Mario Bros. (1993) and Car 54, Where Are You? (1994).IMDB Mojo Nixon Entry In the mid-1990s Nixon collaborated on albums with Jello Biafra (Prairie Home Invasion), Dave Alvin, and members of the Beat Farmers, including Buddy "Blue" Seigal (Live in Las Vegas by the Pleasure Barons). Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers, who was a close friend of Nixon's, was eulogized on Nixon's 1999 album, The Real Sock Ray Blue, after his 1995 death onstage of a heart attack. Before his death the two enjoyed poking fun at each other such as Country Dick saying on stage that he'd been "fucking Mojo's Mama" which led to Nixon to retort: "Country Dick can keep on fucking my mama, as long as he keeps on sucking my dick". In 1997, Nixon voiced the character of Sheriff Lester T. Hobbes, a recurring enemy in the computer game Redneck Rampage. The game's licensed Psychobilly soundtrack also features two of his songs. In 1998 he had a short run as an advice columnist with "Life Fixin' with Mojo Nixon". Only two columns were authored, and both ran in the short-lived Peterbelly Magazine. That year he was also the honorary captain of the United States luge team at the 1998 Winter Olympics:Washingtonpost.com: U.S. Wins First Luge Medals in response to this, Nixon invited members of the men's doubles squad to work on a song for the Games: "Luge Team U.S.A." was recorded by Nixon along with members of the Beat Farmers and luger Gordon Sheer playing drums under the band name The Arctic Evel Kneievels. Politics Nixon is an ardent supporter of free file sharing of recordings in MP3 and other formats. In July 2000, he publicly declared his support because he said that he is "not an asshole like Metallica."Mojo Nixon & the Toadliquors 2000-07-07 Denver CO, Internet Archive. (accessed 4 November 2014) In October 2009, several of his albums were available free on Amazon.com in MP3 format for a limited time as part of a promotion for his CD Whiskey Rebellion. Nixon is a self-described "libertarian cynicalist anarchist" and has supported the Democratic Party. He has a degree in political science and history from Miami University in Ohio. Post-musical career Nixon officially retired from the music business in 2004, playing his last live show on March 20 of that year at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas. His first comeback was in 2006 when he came out of retirement in support of Kinky Friedman's bid to become governor of Texas. As Nixon said at the time, "If supporting Kinky for Governor is what it takes to drag my ass out of retirement, consider my ass dragged." In the late 1990s Nixon worked as a radio DJ in San Diego (on KGB-FM) and Cincinnati (on WEBN-FM). As of 2008 he hosts three shows on Sirius Satellite Radio: The Loon in the Afternoon on Outlaw Country (channel 60), the NASCAR-themed Mojo Nixon's Manifold Destiny on SIRIUSXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90) and the politically themed Lyin' CocksuckersLyincocksuckers.com on Raw Dog Comedy (channel 99). In October 2005, Mojo Nixon began appearing on the Sirius Howard 100 channel as the "General Manager." On Nov. 8, 2016, Mojo did his final "Lying Cocksuckers" show, saying he would be back next year with another show on RawDog Comedy on Sirius/XM. "Unretired" In October 2009, he announced his "unretirement" on his website with the release of his album Whiskey Rebellion, a collection of previously unreleased tracks he claims he had found in "an old shoe box full of cassette tapes" under his front porch.Wolgamott, Kent L. "Get Mojo Nixon's new album for free" Journalstar.com. October 8, 2009 To promote the CD, he announced the temporary free downloads of the CD tracks and several of his solo albums (and albums with Skid Roper) on Amazon.com, along with a tour of several Texas locations. In a press release, he stated, In popular culture Mojo Nixon is mentioned in at least five songs: * The 1988 Dead Milkmen song, "Punk Rock Girl." * The 1992 The Dick Nixons song, "MTV." * The 1996 Wesley Willis song, "Mojo Nixon." * The 2002 Todd Snider song, "Vinyl Records." * The 2016 GAR GAR song, "Walleyed." In the final episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Mike Nelson has a suitcase monogrammed with the initials M.N., which he says he bought at Mojo Nixon's garage sale. Discography With Skid Roper * Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper (1985) * Get Out of My Way! (1986) * Frenzy (1986) * Bo-Day-Shus!!! (1987) * Root Hog or Die (1989) * Unlimited Everything (1990) Solo * Otis (1990) * Mojo Nixon Live at The Casbah 12/28/2003 (2003) {MP3 Only Release} * Whiskey Rebellion (2009) With the Toadliquors * Horny Holidays! (1992) * Whereabouts Unknown (1995) * Gadzooks!!! The Homemade Bootleg (1997) * The Real Sock Ray Blue! (1999) Other * Prairie Home Invasion (with Jello Biafra) (1994) * Live in Las Vegas (Pleasure Barons) (with the Pleasure Barons) (1994) * Redneck Rampage Video Game Soundtrack (Interplay/Xatrix) (1997) Singles Filmography * Great Balls of Fire! (1989) – James Van Eaton * Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever (1990) – Spirit of Rock n' Roll * Super Mario Bros. (1993) – Toad * Car 54, Where Are You? (1994) – Sidewalk Preacher * Raney (1997) – Sneeds Perry * Die Wholesale (1998) * Buttcrack (1998) – Preacher Man Bob * A Four Course Meal (2006) – Bartender References External links * * * Mojo Nixon’s Sirius XM Radio show * Mojo in the Washington Post 3/9/2007 * class=artist|id=p5035/biography|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic bio page * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110721131615/http://www.drunkard.com/archive/dom_archive/55-doi.htm Interview in Modern Drunkard Magazine] * "Life Fixin' with Mojo Nixon" advice column archive * Mojo Nixon collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive Category:1957 births Category:Living people Category:People from Danville, Virginia Category:American musicians Category:Miami University alumni Category:American SubGenii Category:American libertarians Category:Cowpunk Category:Psychobilly musicians Category:Musicians from San Diego